Get a Lower Azure Bill by Taking Control of Your Microsoft Account

Getting a lower Azure bill – that stays low in the long term – can be a hit and miss affair if you are not in control of when and how VMs are deployed. Without total visibility of your account, it can be difficult to know just how much you are spending – until, of course, your finance department tells you your cloud spend is escalating quickly and you need to do something about it.

There are various solutions to achieving a lower Azure bill, but not all of them are reliable and some could cost you more than you actually save. For example, once you take into account salaries, reassigning developers to write scheduling scripts for non-production VMs may not be cost-effective. It will also likely delay the delivery of their core projects.

Other options include telling your developers to switch off their non-production VMs and looking at cheaper pricing plans. The first of these options relies on your developers remembering to switch off their development, testing and staging VMs when they are not required; while you probably chose the cheapest option when you first deployed the VMs you are looking to reassign.

A more practical solution is to use scheduling software from ParkMyCloud. Although it goes against the grain for some IT professionals to buy software when they can build, ParkMyCloud provides an easy way to achieve a lower Azure bill, and gives you the visibility needed to take control of your Microsoft account and maintain a lower Azure bill

What ParkMyCloud Does to Lower AWS Bills

ParkMyCloud is a lightweight app that you initially log into using your Microsoft credentials and create a limited-permission role for. The app conducts a discovery of the VMs deployed on your Microsoft Azure account, and then makes recommendations about which are suitable for scheduling on/off times for based on the names and tags assigned to them.

System administrators have the option of selecting what times and what VMs they want to create a parking schedule for, after which the app´s UI displays by how much you will lower your Azure bill. The scheduling process can also be assigned to development teams if it is more convenient and, as it only takes a few minutes to complete, it will not delay the delivery of their core projects.

Once the schedules are operational, the UI also displays how much has been saved. These figures are available in report form so that system administrators can identify any further opportunities to lower your Azure bill. The single view dashboard on which the recommendations are made also provides administrators with the opportunity to identify unused VMs that can be terminated.

The total visibility provided by ParkMyCloud puts you back in control of your Microsoft account. With a higher degree of oversight and governance, development teams are more accountable and you are able to plan, budget and report using reliable and consistent data. These benefits are in addition to achieving and maintaining a lower Azure bill.

How Much Will ParkMyCloud Lower Your Azure Bill?

How much you will lower your Azure bill by depends on how many non-production VMs you have deployed on Microsoft Azure, their pricing plans, regions and the parking schedules you have applied. A company that parks its development, staging and testing VMs outside of the hours of 8:00 in the morning to 8:00 in the evening will reduce the cost of their non-production VMs by almost 65%.

It is possible to lower your Azure bill by even more if you permanently park the non-production VMs and then “snooze” the schedule when access is required by developers. In cases where VMs are not needed for several days, the savings could by 75% or higher. In the event that developers forget to return the VMs to their parked state, safeguards exist to reactivate the parking schedule after periods of inactivity.

One of the factors contributing to how much you will lower your Azure bill – or rather your total cloud spend – is the cost of ParkMyCloud. We offer a choice of competitive subscription packages, including a free option, depending on your requirements. You can discuss which package is best for you with our Customer Support Team. Other than the free option, ParkMyCloud pays for itself within two months.

Try a Fully-Enabled Version of ParkMyCloud for Free

Naturally, we do not expect companies to appreciate the full benefits of ParkMyCloud without first evaluating our scheduling software in their own environment. Consequently we are offering companies the opportunity to try a fully-enabled version of ParkMyCloud for free, during which time you will enjoy the full range of features and multi-account support.

If, after your trial has concluded, you would like to continue using our service in order to maintain control of your Microsoft account, you have the options of subscribing to one of our paid-for packages or continuing to use a feature-limited version of ParkMyCloud for free. To begin your free trial, click any “Try it Free” button on this page.

Alternatively, do not hesitate to contact our Customer Support team with any questions you have about ParkMyCloud and how it can help achieve a lower Azure bill. Out team will be happy to answer your questions and will be on hand throughout the trial period in order to help you overcome any issues you encounter and provide friendly advice when it is required.